Alumni Connect for Success

Mike Marchetta '10 doesn't own New York City ... but he does lease it.

As a director in the realty firm owned by Marco Ellman '79, Marchetta is responsible for finding and making deals for office space to house companies in the Flat Iron district of Manhattan. The 23-year-old is often pounding the pavement, meeting with top officers and CEOs.

As Ellman warned him in January when the two met at the Oswego Alumni Association's NYC Career Connections, it's a tough business. For those with the right stuff and staunch determination though, commercial realty is also the best business to be in.

"Generally people are not going to try this because no one's going to give them the money, they have to make it," Ellman said. It can take more than a year to get a foothold and start turning a personal profit.

Despite that caveat, Marchetta was persistent in his interest at the event in January — so much so that Ellman gave him a hands-on taste of his work the following day and, in June, hired the young graduate.

"The first month and a half, I spent a lot of time cold-calling," said Marchetta, who credits his work as a Telefund caller for giving him confidence. The Telefund is a key piece of the Oswego Office of Development's annual Fund for Oswego fundraising campaign. "I developed a lot of communications skills in college that are very helpful in the business world."

The Oswego advantage continues with his experience at Ellman Realty Advisors, he said.

"I get to work directly with (Ellman) and learn," from his 25 years of commercial realty experience, said Marchetta.

The former Laker golf team member said he would never have considered this line of work if not for NYC Career Connections. "It changed my life," Marchetta said.

Each January the Oswego Alumni Association, with support from The Fund for Oswego, draws together several dozen alumni for a networking event with current students. Juniors and seniors are also invited to alumni-hosted day visits at select businesses, which this year included Madison Square Garden, BET/CBS television studios, the New York Stock Exchange, the G.S. Schwartz and Co. public relations firm and KPMG accounting.

— Shane M. Liebler

PHOTO CAPTION:Dan Marchetta '10, left, and Marco Ellman '79 met at the New York City Career Connections event this year.